Having carefully considered the facts and differing opinions regarding the upcoming school bond, we believe that the revised bond deserves our support. The fact that we do not have a perfect school or management cannot be used as a justification for holding Lopez children hostage and voting down the revised bond. Here is why.

The Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District has had another successful year. Through July 2014, 267 tons of garbage (up 12 percent from this time last year) and over 167 tons of recyclables (up 17 percent), not counting metals, batteries, E-waste, and this year textiles, departed Lopez on local trucks – including our own truck– with local drivers.

Last year the season started with a shockingly large storm event that overwhelmed our Eastsound storm sewer system. With that memory almost one year behind us, the Stormwater Utility is moving into the final phase of countywide stormwater management planning.

If you want to learn mountain climbing, you won’t start with Mount Everest. If you yearn to become a great cook, I doubt you’ll begin by hosting a huge dinner party. For all things that are complicated and worth knowing, it takes time, education, practice and patience to learn the tricks, absorb the subtleties and understand what’s really involved.

Citizens from Whidbey Island and the Puget Sound region will gather at the Navy’s Outlying Field at Coupeville, Whidbey Island, Friday May 9 at 1 p.m. to protest the Navy’s resumption of Growler EA-18G electronic attack jet operations.

Many of us support international development organizations with our donations, but rarely get to observe their work firsthand. Recently several Lopezians converged at Santa Cruz la Laguna, Guatemala, to see Amigos de Santa Cruz Foundation in action.

The level of unpredictability and lack of ferry service in recent months is unacceptable. As a frequent ferry commuter myself, I share the frustration other riders have with the inconsistent and uneven service. I also agree that the responsibility for this lies not as much with Washington State Ferries, but right here in Olympia.

When I was 26 I signed up for my first 10-day silent meditation retreat. My mother’s response was “Why on earth would you want to sit around and think for 10 days?” Right, why would I? The truth is, “thinking” is not what meditation teaches. I get plenty of that everywhere else!

Here is a confession: I LOVE the Take-It-Or-Leave-It!
My love affair with Take-It-Or-Leave-It dates way back. But now I want to come clean because I finally have some data to retroactively justify my behavior.

In the last Energy Matters article “Facing the reality of fossil fuel economy and climate change”, I wrote about the ubiquity of fossil fuels in our everyday lives. Fossil fuels and the numerous products derived from them have fuelled our cars, factories that make stuff we use, agriculture that puts food on our tables, and economy on which we all depend. So how can we wean ourselves from “oil addition”?

In the nine months since the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District took over operation of the Lopez Dump, 331 tons of garbage, 209 tons of separated recyclable materials, and 14.5 tons of commingled recyclables have left the island on local trucks – including our own District truck – with local drivers.

Recently coal-terminal advocates won an apparent victory when the Army Corps of Engineers told Congress it would not perform an area-wide review of the proposed projects’ environmental impacts. Instead it would only consider the projects on a case-by-case basis and focus narrowly upon their impacts on U.S. waterways, over which it has regulatory control.

No doubt that better and faster internet would bring economic, educational and communication benefits. Speaking personally, it is frustrating to pay Centurytel for 1.5 megabytes of download speed only to get as low as 0.02 Mbps or no internet at all.

“Thriving Communities” are growing in several communities around the Salish Sea in a mutually supportive way. On Friday, Jan.4, a day was set aside at the Lopez Community Center to envision and discuss ways of strengthening and developing visions for community enrichment. Roughly between sixty and eighty people attended. The purpose of this event was to create successful growth models here at home. Ideas were discussed about how to take action to make our homes healthy and resource efficient, our lands sources of food and beauty, and our communities vibrant and resilient in these changing times. Most of those who attended came away moved with a sense of possibility and hope.

My heart is broken as I reflect upon the tragic events of Dec. 14, at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn. That such innocent lives could so quickly and brutally be ripped from the tight fabric of that community and that school, is unimaginable to me.

On Saturday Nov. 3, over 450 residents of San Juan County packed the gymnasium at Friday Harbor High school during a three hour meeting to provide scoping comments to the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point in Bellingham.

Our generation inherited a world contaminated with PCBs. They were considered as safe as mineral oil and table salt. PCBs were used in hundreds of applications from insulating fluids, plasticizers in paints, pesticide extenders, caulking, adhesives, to carbonless copy paper.

I, too, am a member of the Charter Review Commission, one of three No votes on the amendments. I would like to respond to some of Gordy Petersen’s statements. Mr. Petersen decries the “costly” decisions from the current six-member council. He does not, in this case, and almost every other, explain or support his opinion. He just believes it.

In my first year as auditor, the first time I went out on a limb to project revenue, it was to say that sales tax revenue that year would not meet budget. Having no experience in forecasting, I was way out of my comfort zone in saying that. I was relieved the next week to see the local paper reporting the same thing: that sales tax revenue would fall short that year. When I read the article, however, I was chagrined to see that the paper’s source for that projection was me. I’ve come a ways since then. I’ve developed tools for reviewing revenue, and I have a few years of good historical data to build on.

Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division Assistant Secretary David Moseley and members of his staff will be holding two public meetings on Thursday, June 7. One will be held on the inter-island ferry from 11:35 a.m. until 2 p.m. The second meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the San Juan County Council Chambers in Friday Harbor.

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Here’s what we islanders do for each other. We make meals when a new baby arrives or when someone goes through chemotherapy. When a family’s house burns down, we give shelter and help build a new one. Some of us mentor school kids, others drive shuttle buses for seniors, and many serve on the boards of nonprofits.

Possibly the oldest club on Lopez Island, The Birthday Club, will be celebrating its 90th anniversary May 17, 2 p.m. at Woodmen Hall, (previously scheduled for May 18 - note the change) with hostesses dressed in skirts or dresses with old-fashioned hats apropos of the attire worn by members of past generations. Edna Leidig, who plays the piano will be playing some rollicking old tunes and members who are so inclined can sing or hum along.